Dreams of
Prosperity offers a critical composite reflection on Southeast Asia as
a progressively integrated and globalized space of production, exchange, and
circulation within and beyond national boundaries. Through a broad array of
contexts united by the theme of integration, the essays describe the successful
or unsuccessful entry of specific individuals or groups into wider markets and
networks in their quest for prosperity—in Thailand, by Lua peasant
farmers, slum families, the last century’s teak laborers, and ethnic
tour hosts; in Indonesia, by the urban poor and communities resisting
environmental destruction; and in Vietnam, by human trafficking returnees. The
authors examine how these groups are socially and symbolically defined and
redefined in the process of integration, and consider the imaginaries of future
that enable both active participation and unmitigated manipulation. Two key
topics are the cognitive struggle that peasants and laborers face with their
material environment and the process of sense-making that characterizes many
destitute people in urban contexts.
This fresh and unusual collection lays the
ground for a comparative grassroots approach to inequality and integration in
Southeast Asia. It is a uniquely useful resource for area studies and social
science students, and also provides insight for those engaged in humanitarian
and political action.
Contributors are Matteo Carlo Alcano, Amnuayvit
Thitibordin, Monika Arnez, Giuseppe Bolotta, Olivier Evrard, Karnrawee
Sratongno, Runa Lazzarino, Manoj Potapohn, Amalia Rossi, Sakkarin Na Nan, and
Silvia Vignato.
Dreams of
Prosperity offers a critical composite reflection on Southeast Asia as
a progressively integrated and globalized space of production, exchange, and
circulation within and beyond national boundaries. Through a broad array of
contexts united by the theme of integration, the essays describe the successful
or unsuccessful entry of specific individuals or groups into wider markets and
networks in their quest for prosperity—in Thailand, by Lua peasant
farmers, slum families, the last century’s teak laborers, and ethnic
tour hosts; in Indonesia, by the urban poor and communities resisting
environmental destruction; and in Vietnam, by human trafficking returnees. The
authors examine how these groups are socially and symbolically defined and
redefined in the process of integration, and consider the imaginaries of future
that enable both active participation and unmitigated manipulation. Two key
topics are the cognitive struggle that peasants and laborers face with their
material environment and the process of sense-making that characterizes many
destitute people in urban contexts.
This fresh and unusual collection lays the
ground for a comparative grassroots approach to inequality and integration in
Southeast Asia. It is a uniquely useful resource for area studies and social
science students, and also provides insight for those engaged in humanitarian
and political action.
Contributors are Matteo Carlo Alcano, Amnuayvit
Thitibordin, Monika Arnez, Giuseppe Bolotta, Olivier Evrard, Karnrawee
Sratongno, Runa Lazzarino, Manoj Potapohn, Amalia Rossi, Sakkarin Na Nan, and
Silvia Vignato.